The Blacklist: A Major Mystery Revealed

Liz, played by Megan Boone, looks at a mysterious photo in ‘The Blacklist.’

NBC

Speakeasy and my weekly recaps of NBC’s hit show, “The Blacklist,” have become the go-to spot for talking about this amazing and mysterious program. Every week in my recap, I ask you guys for your thoughts and theories about what is happening on the show and you respond with hundreds of comments.

Well, this week we took the comments to Twitter. I asked all of you about the contents of the mysterious envelope that Liz got a look at from Tom’s safety deposit box at the end of last week’s episode. Most of us think it is a picture… but of what? So, I tweeted this:

The NBC Blacklist Twitter account liked my question and retweeted it. That really got the conversation moving! I got hundreds of retweets and replies. Most of you seem to agree with me that it is a picture of Red with Liz’s adoptive father, Sam, in the hospital, and the photo likely shows Red smothering Sam. As you may recall, Tom was at the hospital at the same time. Him having a photo of Red’s murderous act of mercy would not be all that surprising. But, I got a bunch of other interesting theories on Twitter.

So, I did what any self-respecting journalist would do and I took all these ideas to the source, Jon Bokenkamp, the creator and executive producer of “The Blacklist.” We had a brief email conversation about all of your theories, and he promised to chat with me in more detail once we get a bit closer to May 12′s season finale.

As for my theory about Red killing Sam, Jon said, “Um, that would be rather problematic for Red.” Not exactly a denial on his part, is it? I think my theory is right!

I doubt the show would confirm Liz and Red’s relationship with a birth certificate at this point in the series. Also, the contents of the safety-deposit box are supposed to prove that Red is a “bad guy” and drive Liz away from him. I doubt showing him to be her real father would do that. Jon confirmed my belief that the birth certificate is a non-starter saying, “Nice try, but no.”

There were lots of theories about the photo being connected to the fire Liz was in as a child:

Jon’s response to these ideas was: “Interesting. What I will say is that we are going to return to that story — the night of the fire — before the season is over.”

I ran another of my theories by Jon. I asked him if it might be a photo of Red and Tom shaking hands. In retrospect, that cannot work because Red and Tom ran into each other at Sam’s hospital earlier this season and certainly did not act like they knew each other. But Jon seemed to like my idea. “Okay I love this. Calling production now to see about possible reshoots,” he said.

I also got Jon Bokenkamp to solve one of the great mysteries that has haunted the show recently. I am, of course, talking about the “actor” playing Hudson, Liz and Tom’s dog. We first met Hudson in the pilot episode. He was cute and cuddly and about the size of a small golden retriever. Then, Hudson cropped up again this past week and… well… he just wasn’t quite the same. He seemed a little bit smaller and his fur was more curly. What was happening?

Blacklist viewers thought it was some grand conspiracy or perhaps that Liz was living in a dream world with a different Hudson. There just had to be some hidden message in the dog’s changes. Maybe the new Hudson was working for the mysterious “Berlin.”

Hudson in last week’s episode

NBC

Jon told me the answer, “I was sort of hoping no one would notice the change. Yes, Hudson was replaced. Contract negotiations went sideways. I had the same reaction as you when I saw the dailies. I was like: What the hell happened to Hudson? The new Hudson is half the size of the original. The truth is the original Hudson went to doggie heaven and we needed a replacement. Wish I had a better answer.”

So, there you have it, the Hudson mystery is solved! It goes down alongside the dueling Darrens on Bewitched as one of Hollywood’s great casting changes.

As for the mystery of the photos Liz saw, we will just have to wait until Monday to find that answer.

Oh, and one final note. There were some complaints in the comment section this week about my description of the courier, Jeffrey, as an “African-looking man.” I want to apologize if that seemed like an unnecessary description of him. When I do my recaps, it is real-time and I am typing as fast as my fingers will go. When someone is shown and we have no name or other way to connect with them, I just pick out something about the person to describe them. I do consider “African” to be a different look than “African-American” but I get that my words may have seemed unintentionally provocative. Again, I am sorry and I will try to be more careful in the future.

Thanks for being loyal Blacklist fans and thanks for coming to Speakeasy for all the answers. I’ll see you all back here Monday night!

If you want to read more of Jason Evans’ commentary on the Movie and TV industry, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk and be sure to check our Speakeasy every Monday and Wednesday for his recaps of The Blacklist and Arrow.